Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney is obviously an intelligent individual when it comes to Canadian fiscal policy, but what he clearly lacks is political street smarts.

His flirtation with running for the leadership of the federal Liberal party last summer, after he was approached by senior Liberals, as reported by The Globe and Mail, was a huge error in judgment.

The self-described job of the Bank of Canada and its governor is to pursue financial policies that “promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada,” independent of partisan politics.

How can you do that if you’re contemplating running for federal Liberal leader when a Conservative government is in power? How can you do it if you’re thinking of running for any party?

Given that Carney remains Bank of Canada governor until he assumes the same post with the Bank of England on July 1, this controversy isn’t going away simply because Carney insists he never actively sought the job or placed any “outgoing” phone calls to Liberals.

Nor will it abate because Liberal MP Scott Brison says it was a private matter that Carney, a friend, and his family, vacationed at Brison’s seaside home in Nova Scotia for a week last summer, while he was being courted by the Grits.

This after Carney gave a speech to business executives at a golf resort, organized by another prominent Liberal booster of his potential candidacy, former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna.

On Monday, the Bank of Canada, after initially declining to comment on the matter, said Carney did not violate its code of ethics by accepting Brison’s hospitality, because the two did not have an actual or potential business relationship.

But this controversy goes well beyond that.

First, the bank’s code of ethics warns employees not only to decline hospitality if this would compromise their objectivity, but also if it would “appear to compromise” it, a higher standard involving public perception.

Second, this isn’t just about Carney staying at Brison’s house, or the fact they don’t have a business relationship.

It’s about the public’s perception of the sum total of Carney’s actions and, for that matter, the Liberals’.

From the Globe story, it’s clear Carney didn’t immediately or unequivocally rule out running for the Liberals when he was first approached during the summer by senior Grit Tim Murphy, Paul Martin’s former chief of staff, or when he discussed it with prominent Liberals like MP John McCallum.

While Carney never committed to running, the Globe notes, he asked Liberals approaching him such political questions as what it would take to defeat Justin Trudeau at the April leadership convention.

Carney didn’t publicly rule out running for the Liberals until late September, reportedly because, among other issues, he came to realize the inappropriateness of resigning as governor to go directly into politics.

Carney also noted he’s been approached by other parties to run and that the idea he was courted by the Liberals should be taken, “with a grain of salt.”

It’s also fair to add none of the Liberals asking Carney to run could guarantee he’d win, and, even if he had, he would only have become leader of the third party.

But all that said, there’s a thing in politics called “the smell test.”